@Fault: Besieged U.S. Embassy #Fails Its Twitter Defense

An Islamic flag placed on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo during a heated demonstration on Tuesday. This and other images of the protest were tweeted as the protests unfolded. Photo: @Kristenchick

[Update, 9 a.m., Sept. 12: U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens has been killed by a mob in Benghazi. There are reports that other Americans are dead. The Pentagon is not able to confirm as yet reports that Marines are dead or that additional U.S. military assets are en route. As soon as I have something solid, I will report it in a separate post that will link back to this one.

A statement released by the White House from President Obama reads in part: “I have directed my Administration to provide all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya, and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe. While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants.”]

When Egyptians stormed the gates of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, the diplomats took to their computers and mobile devices — and blamed an American video for stirring up the locals. But the Embassy’s tweets against the movie and “religious incitement” instantly came in for more criticism, from Americans who thought the diplomats had conceded far, far too much — like basic principles of free speech.

Except, apparently before the protests broke out in force, it issued a statement that denounced the film as “religious incitement.” Tying the condemnation to the 9/11 anniversary, the Embassy statement read, in part: “Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.” It tweeted the statement, posted it to its Arabic-language Facebook page — and stirred a hornet’s nest.

If the statement was meant to calm tensions in Cairo, it didn’t stop the protests — which spread to U.S. diplomatic outposts in neighboring Libya. It also conspicuously didn’t call the protests “religious incitement,” nor did it condemn the incursion onto sovereign American soil. But conspicuously — and alarmingly to several Americans on Twitter — it didn’t make an effort to defend the principle that even offensive speech deserves toleration, a basic democratic value that the Obama administration is supposed to be promoting while a revolutionary fervor sweeps through the Middle East.

The State Department has come under criticism in the past for being slow to adapt to the social-media world. It didn’t have that problem in Cairo: Its Twitter and Facebook engagement was rapid and consistent. But that rapidity may have outraced its more traditional diplomatic responsibilities to insist on the inviolability of its Embassy and to stick up for basic American values — even when the speech in question is gross.